Page 17

I couldn’t remember the last time I had a lazy Saturday. When I lived in Rowen, I’d always have to run errands or do chores for Dad. Having the chance to kick my feet up and relax on the couch felt almost indulgent as I flipped through the channels on the TV.

“What are you watching?” Jackson asked. I craned my neck upward to see him hovering behind the couch, looking down at me.

“Not sure yet,” I admitted. “Need something?”

Part of me expected him to tell me to go shopping or do laundry or something, the way Dad normally would. Well, the relaxation was nice while it lasted. I pushed myself to a seated position, not expecting what he said next.

“I was thinking it might be fun to go on a hunt,” he suggested. “The three of us together.”

Something about that made my stomach lurch, and my heart started pounding. It shouldn’t have. It was just a hunt, after all. But the idea of the three of us—Jackson, me, and Claire—going on a hunt together felt right.

The other, more reasonable part of me argued otherwise. I was warming up to him too much. I was dropping my guard, and that was dangerous around Jackson. It gave him more chances to hurt me. The more activities we did like this, the more I was going to fall for him and forget what he was capable of.

And that wasn’t the only reason going on a hunt could end in disaster. The more time he spent with Claire, the more likely he was to find out the truth about her. That thought still terrified me to my core.

Or did it? As the thought crossed my mind, the dread and fear that typically accompanied it felt muted, muffled. It didn’t instill panic the way it used to. Would it be that bad if he found out? Didn’t he deserve to know? He had been good to us so far, and telling him would be better than him finding out on his own. Besides, Jackson wasn’t stupid. He would discover the truth when given enough time.

I pushed the thought from my head. That was a problem to deal with on a different day. Not right now. I realized with a jolt that Jackson was staring at me, waiting for a response. How long had I been staring blankly at him like an idiot?

“I’m not sure,” I hedged. “I don’t know how much fun you would have. I haven’t taught Claire much about hunting yet. We just haven’t had the time. I’m worried that will slow you down, or she might scare away the prey.”

I wasn’t sure how he would respond, or what I was really expecting. But I didn’t anticipate him perking up, something like excitement glinting in his eyes as he gave a warm grin that made him obnoxiously attractive. I had to keep myself from grabbing him by the shirt and pulling him to me.

“Well, she’s got to learn sometime,” he said, jerking me away from that train of thought. “I’d be happy to show her a thing or two.”

“Really?” I asked, unable to hide my surprise.

He nodded. “Of course! Whenever we were on a mission for spec ops, I was the one who went on hunts for food since half the others couldn’t catch a rabbit to save their lives. I’d love to teach someone else. It’d be a shame for all this massive talent to go to waste.” He gave a roguish wink that made me smile despite myself. “Is that a yes?” he asked.

“Yeah, all right. Let me make sure Claire is feeling up for it.”

It turned out she was more than feeling up for it. The instant I suggested it, she jumped to her feet, a giant grin on her face.

“He really offered to teach me?” she asked.

I nodded, unable to bite back the smile creeping up my face. Claire’s growing adoration of Jackson hadn’t escaped my notice. She looked up to him. Based on the way I’d seen him interact with her, it was hard to blame her. I might not be able to fully trust Jackson, but Claire did wholeheartedly. So I wasn’t surprised when she bounced up and down on the balls of her feet, asking a dozen questions about where we would go, what sort of things we would hunt (she wanted to go after a bear; I gave her an emphatic no), what skills Jackson might teach her. It was hard not to smile at it all.

A couple hours later, I padded alongside a small, gray-furred wolf cub. Claire glanced around, panting, her tail swishing in excitement. I couldn’t blame her. The appeal of going on a hunt had only grown for her since Jackson had suggested it. My wolf dug her claws into the soil, relishing the chance to run through the woods and be free for a while.

Jackson stood waiting for us at the edge of the forest. When I saw him and Claire next to each other, a jolt of panic raced through me. They looked practically identical, the shade of their fur almost an exact match. There was no way he wouldn’t be able to figure it out.

His wolf kept his eyes on me, something intense in his gaze. Not accusatory. Something closer to lust or want lingering there instead.

I waited for some sign of recognition about Claire, for him to shift to human right that second and demand an explanation. But all he did was jerk his head toward the woods and trot in that direction. Claire scurried forward, trying to walk next to him. I could tell how excited she was about her hunting lesson from how she held her head, the way it tilted toward any sound that could potentially be prey, and how all her muscles seemed coiled, ready to spring.

We came to a clearing. Jackson paused, glancing behind him at us. He gestured with his head, indicating that we would stop here. Claire came to a halt and sat on her haunches, all her attention locked on Jackson as she waited for her first lesson.

Jackson crouched, keeping low to the ground as he moved without making a single sound. He sat up and motioned to Claire with his tail.

Slowly, Claire tried to imitate him. I was surprised at how well she did. Her belly brushed the ground too much, causing a soft rustling as she moved across the grass, but she had the basic movement and paw positioning almost exactly correct.

My wolf swelled with pride as I watched her. I had never gotten the chance to hunt with her before. Dad had never let me, claiming that it wasn’t a woman’s place to hunt, even if I enjoyed doing it. He also said I was terrible at it, scaring all the prey from a mile away.

Watching my daughter, I wished I had ignored him. She was panting, giving a wide wolf grin as her tail moved back and forth, her eyes bright with the thrill. She loved it. On top of that, as I continued watching her, another thing became just as apparent: she was a natural.

Just like her father , I thought with another painful jolt, this one tinged with guilt. It wasn’t just Jackson I was betraying by doing this; it was Claire, too. She’d never had a true father figure, one she could look up to. I’d wanted to protect her, to make sure Jackson couldn’t hurt her the way he had me. However, seeing him teach her these hunting techniques, gently adjusting her posture with his snout or a nudge of the paw, it seemed absurd that I had even thought that a possibility.

Does he know he’s falling into that father-figure role right now? I wondered. Or is he just doing it naturally?

I didn’t have a good answer, and before I could think any more of it, a rustling sounded at the edge of the clearing.

All three of us halted. Claire’s head whipped around, her nose twitching as she caught the scent of the rabbit that had just wandered nearby. She glanced up at Jackson, who nodded, then jerked with his head, telling her to go for it.

Trying to imitate Jackson, she got low to the ground, moving silently. A loud crack sounded in the clearing when she stepped on a twig. She froze, her annoyance at herself clear in her posture. The rabbit paused, raising its head, its ears pricked, sensing danger.

Claire jumped. The rabbit tried to hop away, but it was too late. Claire grabbed the prey by the neck and bit down. The rabbit stilled.

Jackson let out a growl of approval, then shifted to human as Claire and I did the same. Claire looked in disbelief at her kill, then glanced back up at Jackson as he approached.

“I did it!” Claire shouted, throwing back her shoulders with pride, her eyes wide with surprise and delight.

Jackson laughed, his gray eyes sparkling in a way that made them look almost silver. The proud grin spreading across his face crinkled the edges of his eyes. He beamed down at Claire, the fatherly pride there so apparent that I nearly rocked back on my feet.

“Great job!” he praised, holding out his hand to high-five her. “That was almost perfect. And on your first try, too! That’s amazing. It took me ages to catch my first rabbit. You’re an absolute natural!”

She made a face. “I broke a twig,” she grumbled.

Chuckling, Jackson ruffled her hair. “You’ll get better as time goes on,” he said. “And I’ll show you a few tricks to keep the sound under control. But for your first time, that was amazing. You should be proud of yourself.”

“I guess…” Claire said, trying and failing to sound modest. The triumphant grin on her face gave away how delighted she truly was. I failed to bite back a smile of my own. When had she grown up so fast?

“You know what you’ve gotta do now, don’t you?” Jackson asked, the grin turning almost mischievous. Claire’s brow furrowed, and she shook her head. Smirking, Jackson leaned forward. “You gotta dress it.”

“Ew!” Claire wrinkled her nose. “That’s disgusting.”

“It’s part of hunting,” Jackson explained, his tone so patient and fatherly that you could have believed he had been looking after Claire her whole life, not just the last two weeks. “It’s not too bad. Here, I’ll show you.”

I watched from the side as Jackson went through the process of dressing the rabbit, explaining the basic steps and why they had to do it. Claire listened with rapt attention, her eyes wide and solemn as she nodded along, following Jackson’s orders and asking questions. From how respectfully she looked at him and listened to him, I hadn’t realized how much Claire looked up to Jackson until now. Sometime in the short span since they had met, he had turned into an idol for her. And all of us spending time together this way, it felt right.

It was almost like…

Like we’re a family , a voice in my head finished for me.

The thought struck me like a lightning bolt, slamming into me so hard that I nearly fell back. Because that really was how it felt, as though we were already a family. Like we had been doing this for years, not months.

And he still doesn’t know the truth about Claire , a nagging voice in my head reminded me.

I closed my eyes. I couldn’t keep it from him, not for much longer. Even if I hadn’t noticed the closeness between the two of them, it was only a matter of time before Jackson came to the conclusion on his own—an infinitely worse situation than me telling him. They were too much alike. Claire looked too much like him and Mira, and their mannerisms were too similar. I was fairly certain he hadn’t realized it yet only because he wasn’t looking for it. But that flimsy barrier wouldn’t last for much longer.

On top of that, he deserved to know. After seeing him with Claire, seeing the way he had helped her over the last few months and fallen into that fatherly role with her… he had put so much work into that relationship, even if he hadn’t been sure how to handle it at first. He had been trying to do right by her—by us —ever since we moved here. I still didn’t trust him, not entirely, not enough to open up to him fully. But despite a part of me telling myself I should continue keeping it a secret, I knew he deserved to know at least this bit.

Even with that certainty, though, a seed of fear planted itself in my stomach and began to bloom. How would he react to the fact that I had kept this from him for so long?

It didn’t matter. Not telling him would be infinitely worse in the long run. Jackson wasn’t an idiot. He would figure it out eventually. And if I wasn’t the one to tell him, things would only go from bad to worse.

No, I needed to tell him. The only question was how, and when.

***

I waited until later that night, after Claire had gone to bed. I doubted it would take long for her to fall asleep, considering all the fun and excitement of the hunt. Still, I waited a good hour after she had gone upstairs to go over to the couch Jackson was lounging on.

The entire rest of the day after the hunt, I’d agonized over whether or not to do this. It had only gotten worse during the last hour, and I had probably flipped back and forth on the answer over a dozen times in that short period. Right now, I was on the “yes, you should tell him before this goes any further” train. So, steeling my nerves and preparing for the worst, knowing full well that he might kick me out after all this was over, I came to stand in front of him.

He glanced up from the book he was reading and raised an eyebrow. “What’s up?” He sat up, putting the book upside down on his thigh to hold his place. “Want to watch a movie or something? I’m at a slow part of the book, so if there’s something you’re interested in—”

“Jackson,” I cut in. Something in the tone of my voice must have set off alarms because he paused, frowning. He studied me for a long moment.

“What is it?” he asked.

Fuck, why were my hands trembling so much? I tucked them into my jacket so he couldn’t see them. I tried to look into his face but couldn’t, so I stared down at his shoes instead.

“There’s something I need to tell you,” I managed to say. But that was as far as I could get.

After a long pause, Jackson asked, “Are you going to tell me what it is?”

I gave out a bizarre, choked laugh. “I’m trying to, trust me,” I said. “It’s just…”

I trailed off again. God, this was even harder than I thought it would be. Panic had gripped my emotions and threatened to overwhelm me. I couldn’t get the words out no matter how hard I tried.

Jackson’s feet appeared in my vision. A moment later, a hand lightly took my chin and tilted my head upward so I was looking into Jackson’s eyes. Slowly, tenderly, he brushed a strand of hair from my face, tucking it behind my ear. Shivers ran through my body from where his fingers had caressed my skin.

“Whatever it is, you can tell me,” he said. “It’s not going to change how I feel about you. I promise.”

I gave another strangled laugh. “You say that now,” I said.

He raised an eyebrow. “Try me.” His thumb stroked my cheek. I leaned into it unconsciously, taking solace in the gesture, steeling myself for what I feared would be the imminent explosion.

“It’s about Claire,” I finally said.

“What about her?” he asked.

I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, then forced myself to open them and look directly into his.

“She’s yours.”